Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to a Sex Attractant in Wheat-Growing Areas of Eastern Washington and Neighboring Oregon Author(S): Peter J
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Trap Response of Dargida terrapictalis (Buckett) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to a Sex Attractant in Wheat-Growing Areas of Eastern Washington and Neighboring Oregon Author(s): Peter J. Landolt, Diana Roberts, Mary Corp, and Silvia I. Rondon Source: Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 84(2):139-147. 2011. Published By: Kansas Entomological Society DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2317/JKES101029.1 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2317/JKES101029.1 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/ terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. JOURNAL OF THE KANSAS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 84(2), 2011, pp. 139–147 Trap Response of Dargida terrapictalis (Buckett) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to a Sex Attractant in Wheat-Growing Areas of Eastern Washington and Neighboring Oregon 1,2 3 4 5 PETER J. LANDOLT, DIANA ROBERTS, MARY CORP, AND SILVIA I. RONDON ABSTRACT: Traps in eastern Washington and northeast Oregon wheat fields, baited with a sex attractant for the moth of the wheat head armyworm Dargida diffusa (Walker), captured the congener moth Dargida terrapictalis (Buckett). When the two components of a sex attractant for the wheat head armyworm were tested singly versus together in a trap, nearly all D. terrapictalis captured were in traps baited with the combination of (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate and (Z)-11-hexadecenal, indicating synergy of the two compounds as attractants. Traps baited with this sex attractant and maintained through the growing season captured D. terrapictalis primarily in May in Umatilla County, Oregon, and in June and early July in eastern Washington. Small numbers of D. diffusa were present also in these traps, largely coincident in time with D. terrapictalis captured. This is the first demonstration of a sex attractant for D. terrapictalis and confirms the presence of D. diffusa in the states of Oregon and Washington through the identification of trapped moths. KEY WORDS: Dargida, sex attractant, lure, trap, monitoring, wheat head armyworm Dargida (Faronta) terrapictalis (Buckett) is a noctuid moth that is native to temperate western North America (Buckett, 1969). It has no recognized pest status, but is similar in appearance to, and may be confused with, the wheat head armyworm moth, Dargida (Faronta) diffusa Walker (1856). Both species were reassigned from Faronta to Dargida by Rodriguez and Angulo (2005). Larval host plants for D. terrapictalis are not known. However, the larvae of D. terrapictalis probably feed on grasses, based on host plant records for congeneric species (Crumb, 1956; Robinson et al., 2002). Caterpillars that were thought to be the wheat head armyworm caused localized but severe damage to wheat in Lincoln County of eastern Washington and Umatillah County of northeastern Oregon in 2007 and 2008 (Rondon et al. 2009). About 10,000 acres of winter and spring grains were sprayed with insecticides to control this pest in 2008. Concern over this damage prompted investigationin2009 into the distribution and seasonal abundance of the wheat head armyworm, which was previously unknown in the states of Oregon and Washington. A sex attractant for D. diffusa (Underhill et al., 1977) was used to detect and monitor the adult moth in wheat fields in 2009. The numbers of D. diffusa that responded to that sex attractant were low and there were no reports or complaints of damage to wheat by 1 USDA, ARS, Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, 5230 Konnowac Pass Road, Wapato, Washington 98951 USA. 2 Corresponding author. [email protected] 3 Washington State University Extension Service, 222 N. Havana Street, Spokane, Washington 99202, USA 4 Oregon State University, Umatilla County Extension Office, 721 NE 3rd, Suite 3, Pendleton, Oregon 97801 USA 5 Oregon State University, Hermiston Research and Extension Center, 2121 South First Street, Hermiston, Oregon 97838 USA Accepted 11 May 2011; Revised 7 June 2011 E 2011 Kansas Entomological Society 140 JOURNAL OF THE KANSAS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY armyworms in that area either during the 2009 or 2010 field seasons. However, much larger numbers of D. terrapictalis moths were captured in these same traps. We describe herein the trapping of D. terrapictalis with the D. diffusa sex attractant composed of (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16Ac) and (Z)-11-hexade- cenal (Z11-16Ald) (Underhill et al., 1977). This paper provides the first report of a sex attractant for D. terrapictalis, including determination of the significance of both compounds to sex attraction, and a first determination of the seasonal pattern of flight of males, as indicated by their capture in traps. In addition, we provide verification of the presence of D. diffusa in the states of Oregon and Washington. Materials and Methods Sex attractant lures for season-long monitoring were made by loading pre- extracted red rubber septa (West Co., Lionville, PA, USA) with one mg doses of a 9 to 1 mixture of Z11-16Ac and Z11-16Ald (Bedoukian Research Inc., Danbury, CT, USA). Solutions were made of 9 and 1 mg Z11-16Ac and Z11-16Ald per ml methylene chloride respectively, and each septum was serially treated with 100 mlof solution for each compound. Septa were aired in a fume hood overnight, and then stored in glass bottles in a freezer until use in the field. Feeding attractant lures were composed of the mixture of acetic acid and 3- methyl-1-butanol (AAMB). This chemical blend is attractive to a number of species of moths, including several pest species in the noctuid subfamily Noctuinae (Landolt, 2000; Landolt and Higbee, 2002), to which Dargida is presently assigned (Lafontaine and Schmidt 2010). Polypropylene vials (15 ml) (Nalge Nunc International, Rochester, NY, USA), each with a 3 mm diameter hole in the vial lid, were each loaded with 10 ml of a 50:50 (by volume) mixture of the two chemicals, appliedto cotton balls placed within the vial (Landolt and Alfaro, 2001). Sex attractant and feeding attractant lures were used to bait Universal Moth Traps, also called UniTraps (Great Lakes IPM, Vestaburg, MI). Sex attractant lures (septa) were placed in plastic baskets provided with the trap and positioned at the center of the underside of the trap lid. Feeding attractant lures (vials) were suspended within the buckets of the traps by a fine wire (26 gauge) folded over the top lip of the bucket. Unitraps were the multi-colored design, composed of a green lid positioned over a yellow cone that fit onto the top of a white bucket. A 4 cm2 piece of VaportapeH (Hercon Environmental Inc., Emigsville, PA, USA) was stapled to the side of the trap bucket interior to kill captured insects. Traps were hung from stakes that were placed ,3 m outside of fields of wheat. Trap height was adjusted throughout the season so that the bottom of the trap was 5–10 cm above the top of the crop. Traps were checked weekly, at which time all insects were removed. Vaportape and sex attractant lures were replaced at 4-week intervals, and feeding attractant lures were replaced every 2 weeks. 2009 Season Monitoring Traps were used to determine the presence of wheat head armyworm moths and to determine the seasonality of moth activity as indicated by their capture in traps. Thirty-one trapping sites were established throughout the wheat growing region of eastern Washington, including Adams, Columbia, Douglas, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Lincoln, Spokane, Walla Walla, Whitman, and Yakima counties (Fig. 1). VOLUME 84, ISSUE 2 141 Fig. 1. Distribution of counties trapped (gray shading) and positive trap captures for D. diffusa (stippling) and D. terrapictalis (hash lines) moths in eastern Washington and Umatilla County Oregon, 2009. There were 2 trap sites in each county studied, except Yakima County with 4 and Lincoln County with 10 trap sites. The trap sites in Lincoln County included farms that had received damage from infestations of armyworms in 2007 and 2008. An additional 3 trapping sites were established on farms with armyworm damageto wheat in 2008 in Umatilla County of northeastern Oregon. Each site was monitored with a trap baited with a sex attractant lure and a trap baited with the feeding attractant lure. The two traps were placed 10 m apart. Traps in Washington were maintained from 14 May to 26 September and in Oregon from 26 May to 1 September 2009. 2010 Season Monitoring Traps were again placed to determine the presence of wheat head armyworm moths, as well as D. terrapictalis, and seasonality of activity. Thirteen sites in Spokane and Lincoln Counties of Washington were monitored throughout the growing season for 2010, including the 12 sites in those counties monitored in 2009. Twenty-five sites in Umatilla County, Oregon, including the three sites trapped in 2009, were also monitored. Two traps were placed at each site; an unbaited trap as a control and a trap baited with the wheat head armyworm sex attractant lure. Feeding attractant-baited traps used in 2009 were unsuccessful in capturing Dargida sp. moths and were not then included in monitoring efforts in 2010. Washington traps were maintained from 3 May to 27 September, and Oregon traps were maintained from 7 April to 23 September.